Our friends in Oakland Fishery in New Ross has some very unwanted visitors last week. Thoughtless thugs ransacked the place on November 21st and caused thousands of euros in damage and stole thousands more in stock. Then they vandalised the lake by throwing in empty bags of ground bait and all the tubs.
Oaklands is one of the finest fisheries in Ireland and Brownes have put a lot of time, effort and money into making the place a wonderful haven for anglers of all age groups.
Please help – If anybody is offered cheap rods and reels abu Mitchell Shakespeare silstar please contact New Ross Gardaí (051) 426030. Oaklands are offering a reward for any relevant information.
Oaklands Lake,
Marshmeadows,
New Ross, Co. Wexford.
In the opinion piece by Jason Whooly of BIM in last week’s paper (‘Time to realise our salmon farming potential’, Wednesday 20 November) hope is expressed that the “local people will see the sense” in what BIM are proposing and will allow the development of an industrial salmon mega-farm in Galway Bay. Of course, there are elements of truth to Jason’s piece but equally there are some very important missing elements… Galway Independent, 27/11/13. Read the full article ‘Opportunity to be a leader in fish farm industry‘.
Westmeath County Council has confirmed the presence of algal bloom on Lough Owel.
In a statement to the Westmeath Examiner, council official Dave Hogan said that there is “evidence” of the blue-green algae – which earlier this year led to a bathing ban on Lough Ennell – on the eastern shore of Lough Owel as reported by the paper on Tuesday. The lake is the source of drinking water for all of Mullingar and much of the rest of Westmeath.
Mr Hogan added that the unseasonably low levels of rain in recent months may have played a part in the appearance of the algae. The toxic organism can cause rashes or eye infections in humans, and has been known to kill dogs within an hour…….
A 29.3 per cent increase has been recorded in employment in agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors in Ireland this year. This is according to statistics released this week by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in its Quarterly National Household Survey.
The statistics show that agriculture, forestry and fishing recorded the largest increase in employment where more than 25,100 people join the sector’s workforce….
After a very cold two week period, the past week has seen temperatures rise and kinder conditions for anglers to fish in more settled conditions on our loughs, rivers and at sea. The weather looks very nice at the moment so if you have ventured out fishing in the last while, it is certainly worth a few pleasant hours on your favourite water. There is very good fishing to enjoy and this week catches showed what can be achieved in the shorter days of year.
There was very little coarse angling activity to report this week but perch and roach are being caught daily in the little harbour in Virginia on Lough Ramor. Some nice perch were taken on lures on a very icy Lough Ennell.
Damian Lisewski with the Catch of the Week; a 115cm, 18Ib pike
In the same midlands area the Glore anglers fished a pike competition on the River Inny catching some fine fish on the day. A group of Kilkenny anglers fished with Kevin Lyons from Longford and after switching to deadbaits they caught some nice double figure fish. A fine 115 cm Pike won the day at the recent Fishmaniak Competition on Lough Egish and the captor Damian Lisewski wins our Catch of the Week. At Templemore Park Lake, the pike competition at the weekend proved difficult for the members but a few pike were recorded on the day. Paul Moinester USA, enjoyed some fine pike fishing on the fly on Lough Ramor. You can read all about pike on the fly written by one of our foremost specimen hunters Terry Jackson. There was some good pike fishing for members of Lithuanian fishing club in Ireland on their recent outing on Lough Ree.
The copper coast is gaining a great reputation for good bass fishing and this week it was no different with some fine fish reported. There was some more excellent deep sea fishing reported from the Maidens in Northern Ireland where Spurdogs, black mouth dogfish and doggies produced good sport. Bass fishing is still in full swing and a group of Waterford anglers enjoyed some great fishing from the shore and rock marks on mainly lures. Thirty anglers fished the first competition of the Cork Harbour Light Lines series and there was some fine fish recorded on the day including plaice, brill and some fine whiting. Twenty hardy anglers from the Tralee SAC including juniors fished a shore competition at the weekend and had a good range of species in the cool chilly conditions. Sean Jordan from Wexford reports on some excellent bass fishing in the south Wexford area. In the same area, some dedicated bass anglers reeled in some fine bass mainly on lures.
The 2013 Connacht TAFI Stillwater Championship was fished on Lough na Leibe and well known Corrib angler, Basil Shields won the day with 10 rainbows. Well known angling guide Jason O’Riordan reports on a recent visit to Ardaire Springs in Co. Kilkenny where he enjoyed some good sport for rainbow trout. There was some super rainbow trout fishing at the first heat of the winter league at Cortland Fishery
Elsewhere there are reports on many flycasting courses and other news on many of our trout and salmon fisheries. You can read about all these news stories in this week’s angling update.
The weather is still mild so go fishing, you cannot beat it even at this time of year,
Tight lines especially in Ireland,
Paul Bourke Angling Information Officer
Catch, Photo, Release
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected].
Andrius Bikelis reports on the recent pike boat competition on Lough Ree at Coosan Point hosted by the Lithuanian fishing club in Ireland last weekend.
I have some info from our competition for ‘Fishing in Ireland’ website.
Competition was organized by Lithuanian fishing club in Ireland ‘Go&Catch’
Fishing of pikes by lures from boats,match was November 10 on lough Ree start from Coosan Point.
Competition held 39 anglers or 20 teams from all Ireland.All together was cought 22 pikes,bigest fish 106cm cought by Malvidas Stoskus.
Garrett Ruigrok reports on the first heat of our winter league at the Courtland Trout Fishery in North Co. Dublin.
We had a busy week in preparation getting the place scrubbed up, water levels topped up and the last (thank God…) grass cut of the year.
The morning was sizing up well, flat calm, still and reasonably mild, with fish seen mooching the surface before the off. Our regular juniors had an outing on the lake the day before and had reasonably good fishing, with the boys who could handle sinking lines doing the best by far……. I think that kind of says it all…..
Donal with a nice rainbow trout at Courtlough
Soon after 10am the gunshot started the fishing and Tony McCrave landed the first fish of the day, and if he had any luck at all he could have nearly wrapped things up early but the ‘rubber hooks’ he was using just weren’t holding the fish. 2 anglers had hit their 5 fish per peg limit at the first half hour rotation. Today it appeared that the deeper sections of the fishery were performing best and sinking lines were the order of the day, lures and tungsten nymphs were banking most fish in the early stages.
We fished from 10 until 2 with the anglers moving 4 pegs left every half hour, hence allowing a full circuit of the fishery throughout the competition. We had introduced a small fresh stocking of fish earlier in the week and it seems that these had awoken our more established resident trout and we had very good fishing for the session. A couple of better fish were landed including a 56cm fish for Karl Murrin and a 61cm fish for Daniel Scully who had an epic battle with his fish on light tackle.
The weather held off well and at 2 o’clock everyone retired for the stew while the scores were tallied up with Joe Hennessy earning the honours prize for most stew eaten (bottomless pit !!!!)At the finish the winner was Matt Campbell (Dundalk) with 17 fish landed, 2nd was Karl Murrin (Drogheda) with 15, and 3rd was Gar Murphy with 14.
The final tally of fish landed was a very impressive 161 for the session.
The top 3 received a new Airflo flyline and automatic qualification for the final in March.
A big thank you to all of the anglers for supporting the event, looking forward to seeing you for the next heat on Sunday 22nd December. Big shout to Keith Marry, Damien Franzoni and Don Johnston (who’s wife landed a cracking baby girl yesterday) for their help in running the day. Thanks lads.
The fishery is open 7 days a week from 9.30 until dark, all visits must be booked in advance please on 087 2712704.
A public enquiry could result from allegations of flawed and suppressed information regarding controversial proposal to construct a massive salmon farm in Galway Bay. The allegations have already led the EU Commission to re-open an investigation on the farm and demand explanations from Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney. EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik re-opened Pilot Investigation 764/09/ENV1 following claims of “fundamental errors” in the analysis of key papers… Galway Advertiser, 28/11/13. Read the full article ‘Galway Bay salmon farm halted as EU concerned by ‘Fundamental errors’ in scientific data‘.
Angling guide and journalist Mick Flanagan reports on Perch fishing in the midlands area near Mullingar.
Mark Ryan breaking the ice on Lough Ennell
Yep we broke Ice last weekend venturing out on Ennell for a day at the Perch. Some of the sheltered Bays got s nice coating of ice as did the Royal Canal. I was out with Mark Ryan and it was hard to locate the perch, but we managed to Hook-up with some nice small fish in very deep water. It was strange to see a Green Algal Bloom on the lake in such cold conditions, but chatting to some of the older Anglers here in Town it did appear before in winter.
Mark Ryan with a Lough Ennell Perch
PERCH DOWN DEEP ON ENNELL. It was hard to locate the Perch on Ennell last weekend, and water temperatures dropped in the Ice-cold conditions. Mark Ryan dropped down from Kilcock for a days Jigging for these colorful fish, and even in very cold conditions we got a few nice perch. Heading out we broke a tin layer of Ice to get out on the main Lake, so that will give you some idea how cold it was on Ennell.Still when your well rapped up and catching fish, you don’t feel a bit of the cold. The Perch were hard to find, and when I did locate shoal fish, they were reluctant to grab our colorful lures. We did manage a few nice fish, which were tight on the bottom in 60-80ft of water, and with our lures just inches from the bottom hooked-up with fish.
Mick Flanagan with a Lough Ennell Perch
WINTER ALGAL BLOOM OM MIDLAND LAKES. Reports of Algal Blooms on Owel last week, and I also came across a little Algal Bloom on Rinn Point on Ennell. I taught it was a strange time of year for Algal Blooms, as I have only scene big Algal Blooms in Hot summer conditions on Owel and Ennell.It leaves one to ponder do we really know what’s going on in our water systems. To the naked eye the lakes look gin clear in open water, and then you get a nasty Green Algae washed up on the shoreline.
Midlands Angling provide a top class Guiding service covering many of the top coarse and game waters across the Midlands. Visiting fly anglers have landed some fine trout while out with Midland Angling Guides, pike anglers also recorded some net bursting catches including many pike over 20lbs. Top waters include Lough Ree, Ennell, Owel, Lene, Mount Dalton, and Glore Lake just to mention a few. Michael Flanagan Midland Angling
Pike and Trout angling guide.
Andrew Ryan at Clonanav on the River Suir has announced a series of dates for fly casting workshops to be held in 2014.
Trout anglers, from beginners to more advanced, will be sure to find something of interest in the planned workshops while the novice salmon angler will be sure to learn plenty at the spey casting days.
There are 10 dates set between March and September.
Oaklands Lake,
